Michael Szivos principal from SoftLab with assistance from intern Nitzan Bartov worked with a group of students to produce Pratt Institute’s Graduate Architecture & Urban Design exhibition of student work in the Hazel and Robert H. Siegel Gallery. Each year the course attempts to produce an installation that explores digital fabrication methods as while showcasing the previous year’s student work. The opening of the exhibition coincides with InProcess, the annual publication of student work. The curatorial component of the exhibition is meant to contrast the more traditional way of indexing the work through InProcess

Adjunct Assistant Professor Michael Szivos of SOFTlab will have an installation at the AIA’s exhibit Considering the Quake: Seismic Design on the Edge at the Center for Architecture in New York.Opening Thursday, February 13 and running through Monday, May 26, the exhibit explores the intersection of architecture and earthquake engineering, and also features previous work by OMA, Daniel Libeskind, and Studio SKLIM.

Michael Szivos principal from SoftLab along with Carrie McKnelly worked with a group of students to produce Pratt Institute’s Graduate Architecture & Urban Design exhibition of student work in the Hazel and Robert H. Siegel Gallery. Each year the course attempts to produce an installation that explores digital fabrication methods as while showcasing the previous year’s student work. The opening of the exhibition coincides with In Process, the annual publication of student work. The curatorial component of the exhibition is meant to contrast the more traditional way of indexing the work through In Process

This year’s exhibition grouped the work into clusters based on the type of project, where it was located, how it was conceived, and by semester. The projects from Spring 2012 to Fall 2012 were arranged in a simple three dimensional grid based on the above qualities. This grid was then dynamically adjusted into clusters around four qualities of the work. Each project was then used to generate a cell. This provided a cloud like cell structure that looked like it was grown rather than organized. The underside of this hanging structure was clad with color coded images of the student work. The clad “under belly” creates a solid landscape of images at various angles that visitors explored much like a cave, finding images in crevices as they walked around each cluster. The bottom appeared continuous and solid, while the structure above was very porous to allow for the ceiling light to still penetrate into the gallery.

The hanging installation was made of over 250 unique cells. These were each custom laser cut, assembled, and clad with custom cut images. The structure is exceptional light while still being very strong and taking up large volume. Much like a sponge and in many ways an architecture students education; it relies on redundancy, many connections, complexity, and irregularity to produce an overall structure that is light, nimble, unique, but still open in its ability to grow.

For their Graduate Architecture & Urban Design Student Exhibition, the students at Pratt Institute, under the tutelage of their professors Michael Szivos and Carrie McKnelly of SOFTlab (previously here), created this series of suspended tubular tunnels made up of over 2,400 lasercut cardboard triangles interconnected with 6,000 thin plywood clips, taking over the Robert H. Siegel Gallery. The walls of the gallery are papered with five years worth of student work which can be seen through the portals created by the cardboard installation, which are also used to display models by the students.

Hovering within pratt institute’s hazel and robert h. siegel gallery in new york city, this large-scale site specific installation
frames axial perspectives through the interior of the space. encompassing five years of student work by the graduate school of
architecture + urban design, the walls are surfaced with clusters of images which are visible through portals to the tubular tunnels.
created by a system of laser cut cardboard and thin plywood, the team made over 2,400 triangulated custom panels are interconnected
with 6,000 clips.

Delicately suspended from the ceiling, models are stored within the network and placed on each end of a defined axis.
as visitors peer into the interior of the framework, intersections of the curved walls become revealed.

GAUD professor, Michael Szivos, and his firm, SOFTLab, has a large outdoor installation piece at the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy. Located at the San Gennaro North Gate on Mulberry Street between Prince and Houston, the piece was commissioned by Two Bridges Neighborhood Council. It will be up from September 15-25. For more photos and a time lapse of the installation click here.

Please join GAUD faculty member and Softlab Director, Michael Szivos with friends at an opening party to showcase a custom product display developed with NOOKA, Sunday May 15th from 7pm – 10pm at DDCLD located at 427 West 14th Street. Please rsvp to rsvp@nooka.com